We perform oral surgery for patients with a variety of oral health concerns. What many people don’t realize is that when getting an orthodontics treatment, surgery is often part of the overall process. This is because when straightening your teeth, there are multiple aspects that must be addressed. In our office, we can help you to straighten your teeth with a smile makeover or work with your orthodontist to address any challenges that they are unable to correct.
In order to understand why, it helps to understand what must be addressed when using orthodontics to straighten your teeth. First, your teeth must be moved into position. If you have teeth that came in crooked, there are gaps in between them, or they are behind each other, braces or aligners can typically be used to move them into position. Before doing so, however, there must be enough room in the mouth for all of your teeth and, at times, the palate must be expanded using an oral appliance.
As a provider of oral surgery, we often work with orthodontics offices when a tooth is simply not responding to braces or aligners. There are times, were certain teeth simply aren’t moving into position and in this situation, the only choice is to leave the tooth intact or replace it with a dental implant. An implant functions like a natural tooth and by securing a titanium post into the jawbone, it will behave like one as well. In fact, the body will think that the post is a natural root due to the process of osseointegration. While we typically don’t recommend replacing your teeth for no reason, if you have undergone years of orthodontics, leaving one crooked tooth can be beyond frustrating. If this happens to you, we can finish the process by replacing the tooth with a straight and beautiful one.
The second aspect of straightening your teeth is correcting your jaw. If you have a misaligned jaw, it will negative influence your smile and even your facial appearance. For example, if you have a severe overbite, underbite, or crossbite, it won’t matter how straight your teeth are, your entire appearance will still suffer. This makes aligning your bite critical. This can often be done by an orthodontist using oral appliances. This is a non-invasive method and by using things like rubber bands strung from an upper to lower bracket, the jaw can start to move into position. However, if the jaw is too far misaligned, it may not respond to oral appliances, creating the need for oral surgery.
Correcting your jaw is more important than simply improving your appearance. A misaligned jaw, can place undue pressure onto your teeth and cause damage, irritation, and even headaches. For this reason, many people will seek to correct their jaw and oral health issues, regardless of whether or not they like their smile. As an oral surgeon, we can examine your mouth and provide a recommendation for the steps you should take to correct your smile.
